by Jake Logan
The shot went wild, slamming into the ceiling above Slocum’s head. Chunks of wood and whitewash cascaded to the floor in an eerie cataract that splattered onto the body of the horse and the corpse of Adler.
Badly wounded, Sombra steadied himself as Slocum closed in on him, running now in a straight line.
“Ah,” Sombra said, favoring his right side and leveling his pistol at Slocum.
Slocum squeezed off the last shot in his pistol. He aimed for Sombra’s heart in the center of the man’s chest.
The Colt boomed as the cartridge exploded in the firing chamber. A plume of flame and sparks flew from the barrel on the heels of the lead slug. Whap! The bullet from Slocum’s gun smacked square into Sombra’s chest and blood blossomed into a bright red flower on his chest. The bullet tore through his heart, smashing and shattering arteries, burning veins to a crisp, and ripping out ribs before shattering a portion of his spine and leaving a hole in Sombra’s back the size of a small muskmelon.
Sombra’s pistol slipped from jellied fingers and clattered onto the floor. He fell sideways in a dead swoon, his heart turned to a bloody pulp inside his splintered rib cage. He was dead before his body hit the floor, and no more of his blood pumped from the black hole in his chest.
“Did you get him, Morg?” Scroggs called from down the hall.
Slocum held his left hand over his mouth and answered.
“Yeah, Willie. I got him.”
The fire from the burning wick continued to grow and devour wood. It spread in two directions, then went to the wall and crawled along the base of the adobe. It grew away from the wall and widened its circle.
Slocum opened the gate and began ejecting empty hulls from his pistol. They clanged when they bounced on the floor. He started to feed a fresh cartridge into the cylinder when he heard boots running toward him from down the hall. He shoved only one cartridge in, then pushed the cylinder back into place. He slid the pistol back in its holster and pulled his belly gun from behind his belt buckle.
Scroggs stopped when he saw the body of Sombra in front of him. He had his pistol in his hand.
Behind him came Hiram Littlepage, who was also carrying a pistol in his hand.
The flames from the broken lamp flared up and spread to Moses and shot around the horse’s head and stalked Adler.
“Hello, Scroggs,” Slocum said. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
“What the hell,” Scroggs said, then raised his pistol.
Slocum fired his Smith & Wesson .38 from four feet away. The bullet went through Scroggs’s open mouth and smashed his spine in two, paralyzing him even before his heart stopped pumping.
Littlepage stepped toward Slocum, his gun arm raised. Before he could line up his sights, Slocum shot him in the belly.
The wounded man gasped and struggled to breathe.
“If Linda’s dead,” Slocum said, “you won’t ever see her again. She’ll be in heaven; you’ll be in hell.”
“Damn you, Slocum,” Littlepage groaned as blood seeped through the hand that clutched his belly.
Slocum strode to the wounded man. He put the barrel of his belly gun to Littlepage’s head, just in front of his right ear and squeezed the trigger. The Smith & Wesson belched flame and a fatal bullet. Littlepage dropped to the floor, dead as the proverbial doornail.
Slocum raced past the fallen man and found the room with the trapdoor open to the basement.
He bounded down the stairs and entered the lavishly furnished basement. The aroma of opium hung in the air. He saw three people huddled against the far wall, and Wu Chen squatted down under a tapestry with a golden dragon sewn into the fabric.
Then he saw Linda slumped in the chair.
He ran to her and drew his knife. He cut her bonds and caught her before her body hit the floor. Her face was covered with drying blood and her beauty buried under that mask of death.
“You all better clear out of here if you don’t want to be burned alive,” Slocum said.
Smoke seeped through the ceiling. The women screamed and got up.
Slocum slung the body of Linda over his shoulder and took the stairs two at a time. He heard footsteps behind him, but did not stop to look back.
He carried Linda out through the batwings. The saloon was turning into an inferno. He saw crowds and clumps of people out in the street.
Then he saw Obadiah Swain riding through the throng on his horse. Swain waved at him.
Slocum draped Linda’s body behind the cantle of his saddle and patted Ferro on the neck to keep the horse calm.
He shoved the belly gun back behind his belt buckle and then drew his Colt. He began to feed fresh cartridges into the empty chambers when Swain rode up. Slocum holstered his pistol.
“I told you to stay with your brother and Penny,” Slocum said.
“I don’t listen too good. Who all’s inside the saloon?”
“All the ones I came after,” Slocum said.
“You set the place on fire?”
“I did. It’s what they call a Viking’s funeral, Obie.”
Flames began to break out the windows and soon they heard bullets exploding. The roof was on fire and some of the flames had spread to the unfinished hotel next to the saloon.
“I guess that’s it, John,” Swain said. “Is that Linda on your horse?”
“Sorry to say, it is. I figure Sombra killed her.”
“Probably. Is he dead?”
“What do you think?” Slocum said.
“I still want to show you my mining operation and my smelter, John.”
Slocum rubbed the stubble on his chin.
“First, a shave and a hot bath,” he said.
“I wonder where we can buy a drink of that Kentucky bourbon now that the saloon is closin’ up for good.”
“I know where,” Slocum said. “In my saddlebag.”
He walked back to Ferro, full of sadness for Linda Littlepage. She had been too young to die, too beautiful.
A face in the crowd caught his eye. He had seen the women before, fleetingly, in the saloon.
The younger one, he did not know her name, held up her hand.
Miranda stood next to her daughter, staring at Slocum.
Maria Luisa Echeverria, with her arm raised, waved at Slocum.
She smiled at him. He touched a hand to his bare topknot.
He smiled back at the pretty young woman.
Life goes on, he thought. There were still a few Sirens left in Socorro.
Watch for
SLOCUM’S BREAKOUT
393rd novel in the exciting SLOCUM series from Jove
Coming in November!
